Armor-plate.



L. GA'IHMANN.

ARMOR PLATE.

Patented Aug. 13, 1912.

tra srara ra'rnar arten.

LOUIS GATHMAN, 0F WASHINGTON, DISTtICT OF COLUMBIA.

ARMOR-PLATE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

' Patented Aug. i3, MM2

Application flied January 27, 1912. seran No. Grasso.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Louis GATHMANN, a citizen of the United States,residing in Washington, District of Columbia, have iu.- v'ented certainnew and useful Improve- `ments in Armor-Plates, of which thefolpreventit from piercing the plate.

Another object of my invention is-to provide improved means forabsorbing the shocks o1" explosion above and below Athe water line.

In carrying out my invention I form armor plate 1on its outer side withhorizontallylarranged ribs with intervening grooves and preferably soform such ribs and grooves that die upper face of each rib lis inclinedto a greateriextent than the lower tace thereof, so that a projectilewhen entering a groove Vwill strike the face of the rib having thegreatest inclination and glance upward therefrom. In rear of each grooveI form a horizontally disposed chamber which is so arranfred that thatpart of the wall of the chamber` which is locatedlin the lower part ofthe rib and above the subjacent groove will be thinner than the wall pfthe upper Vpart of the chamber. In this way each rib is provided with apart having less resistance than other parts, and thispart of leastresistance is so located that when a projectile strikes the top of a ribit will glance and be directedtoward the part of least resistance, theprojectile being turned or tilted and its penetrating power beingdestroyed or reduced, in many cases the projectile being fractured byreason of its side wall coming in contact with the ribbed surface of theplate. In order to protect the hull of the vessel l below the water linefrom the shocks of explosion of torpedoes, shells, etc. I :torni thearmor plate with a downwardly projecting relatively thin extensionhaving an outwardly extending flange at its lower end to which issecured the lower end of an outer' plate the upper-end of which" is`secured to the lowermost rib ot' the armor plate. The armor plate isshouldered and. rests on the top of the Cotter-dam in the hull ot thevessel while the extension covers the collerdam to a sutticient extent.'In this way a hollow shoclrabsorbing belt is obtained which can beapplied at the same time with the armor plate there being no weak jointor part between the armor plate and the belt.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a perspective view of acombined armor plate and shocleabsorbing belt, constructed in accordancewith my invention. Fig. 2 is a detail view onan enlarged scale and insection on the line 2 2 of Fig. l. Figs. 3

. and 4 are detail views in section-ot certain modifications.

A indicates the armor plate and B the shock-absorbing belt. The plate Ais provided at the :trout with parallel horizontally arranged ribs a'separated by intervening grooves a3 and each rib is formed with ahorizontally disposed chamber a, each two chambers being separated by asolid part of the plate. It will be observed that the upper face of eachrib is inclined to a much greater extent than the lower face thereotland that the wall y of each chamber a in the lower part of the adjacentrib is considerably thinner than the wall y in the upper .part thereof.In this way I provide a part having less resistance than the other partsand this part is so located that when a projectile strikes the inclinedupper tace of a rib, as indicated in F ig. 2, it will glance, tilt andstrike and shatter the wall g/ and will then further tilt and its sidewill strike the rib immediately below it and cause the projectile t0fracture. In this way thepenc- 'trating power of the projectile isdestroyed or reduced. The construction is also such lthat the weight ot'the plate is very nia- The chambered and ribbed armor plate A may have abacking A', as shown, although this is not essential. The plate A isformed with a shoulder a2 which rests on the top of the cofendam E andit is formed integrally with a downwardly extending port-ion Z1 whichcovers the upper portion of the Cotter-dam and protects it. At its lowerend the extension b is formed with a forwardly projecting flange b2 towhich is secured the lower end of a relatively thin plate b3, the upperend of which is secured to the lowermost rib a of the armor plate. Inthis way a chamber b is formed which may be closed at opposite ends andwhich constitutes an air chamber. In order to drain o' any water thatmay cnter it -I provide a draining tube D. In this way l canconveniently apply a shock-absorbing belt to a vessel at the same timethat the armor plate is applied. The combined armor plate andshocleabsorbing belt are readily placed on the upper part of theColfer-dam. There is no weak joint or weak part between the belt andarmor plate and the extension Z7 serves to reinforce the plate and thehull of the vessel.

The armor plate may be made in various ways, either by forming chambersor chanl nels in the ribs, in the manner indicated in Fig. 1, or theplate may be made in two sections, as shown in Fig. 3, ythechannels orchambers being arraiigetl partly in both sections. Or, as shown in Fig.4, recesses may be formed in the, ri-bs which extend through the back ofthe plate and the plate thus formed may be secured to a plate C as shownin Fi 4. l

Other modlficat-ions of the invention may be made without departing fromthe novel features of my invention. Y I claim as my invention:

1. Armor plate formed on its front wall with chambered ribs, each ofwhich has a projectile-receivin wall made thicker and thus of greater'resistance than its other wall which is made relatively weak to receivethe point of the projectile glancing from the thicker wall of anadjacent rib.

2. Armor plate formed on its front face with' chambered ribsv havingwalls of less walls, are formed to have less resistance to e penetrationof a projectile than thc upperv walls thereof. n j

5. An armor plate formed on its frontl face with chambered ribs, eachhaving a projectile-receiving wall made of'greater varea and of greaterresistance than thje other wall which is made relatively weak to receivethe p oint of the projectile.

6. Armor plate formed on its front `face with chambered ribs havingtheir upper faces inclined to a greater extent than their lower faces,while the lower iyalsot Asaid ribs are made thinner than tlie"upperwalls thereof. f 1

7. Armor plate having a downwardly extending portion formed integrallywith lit tou form one wall of a shocle. bsorbing belt andl to protectthe hull of a ivessel below the water line. Y

8. Armor late having aidownwardly extendin portion formed integrallywith it to' form t e inner wall of ashock-absorbingii .SER

belt, and a front plate secured to the'armor plate and to the downwardlyextending portion thereof. j

9. Armor plate having a downwardly extending portlon formed integrallywith it to ,form the inner Awall of a-shock-absorbing belt, and having aforwardly projecting, ange at its lower end and an outer plate securedat its lower end to said flange andat its upper end to said armor-platethere being outer plates for the purpose specified.

LOUIS GATHMANhI.

Witnesses:

PAUL J. vChrrHMANN, M. E. BURRELL.

a chamber between the inner and

